Artful entrepreneur joins YoHo
Artist and designer Scott B. Tucker arrived in Yonkers this past winter with a trove of his paintings, motorized valkyrie sculptures made from recycled materials and his Raunjiba line of lounge furniture. With those he brought ambitious plans that extend beyond his companies”™ 4,000-square-foot studio space at YoHo Artist Lofts.
A Brooklyn native, Tucker moved his In Square Center (ISC) Design Concepts and ISC Studio businesses from a three-story carriage house in Brooklyn”™s Carroll Gardens to a light-filled third-floor loft at 540 Nepperhan Ave. in the former Alexander Smith Carpet Mills complex.
He and his longtime partner, Tracey Brooke, a children”™s clothing designer, spent two months renovating the space, where they plan to stage marketing events. In his former Brooklyn studio, the 41-year-old Tucker ”“ who 20 years ago started his business designing nightclubs in Washington, D.C. ”“ did events for clients that included the Mini Cooper and Audi automakers and their luxury cars.
At YoHo, where Tucker and Brooke will direct the ninth annual open tour of artist studios April 20-22, “It was just a big open space when we got it,” he said. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano and other city officials had dropped by the previous evening for a ribbon-cutting and studio reception, where the hosts dispensed their homemade, fruit-fortified Sangria and forged relations with officials whose support they”™ll need for ISC”™s next project.
Tucker envisions hosting another ribbon-cutting in Yonkers in 2014. He said his company is negotiating the purchase of a 20,000-square-foot warehouse on Ludlow Street, next to the Metro-North Ludlow train station in the southwest section of the city. The partners plan to convert the industrial space into the ISC Studio School of Art and Design.
Tucker said the school will prepare high school students planning careers in the arts and design and welcome students seeking an alternative to traditional public schools. He is hiring a 10-member faculty comprised of working artists and design and advertising professionals. The school will include a 5,000-square-foot gallery, digital art history library, wood and metal workshops and rooftop painting studios with 360-degree views of the Hudson and Westchester County.
Tucker said the partners are seeking grant-funding sources to help finance the project. The Ludlow Street property is listed at $1.89 million on real estate websites.
“These next few months are going to be devoted to getting that off the ground,” Tucker said. “This (school project) seems ambitious.” But working with local officials, “I think it”™s a very achievable goal.”
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Pace submits DEIS
Pace University, which wants to redo its Pleasantville campus and sell the one in Briafcliff, has submitted to the town of Mount Pleasant a draft environmental impact statement for what it is calling its master plan.
A public hearing is set for May 3.
The core of the Pleasantville campus will be redesigned to improve the infrastructure and upgrade various facilities. Functions now at the Briarcliff Manor campus will be brought to Pleasantville, where nearly 700 students live. About 600 live on the Briarcliff campus, which opened 35 years ago, and will now be sold.
The plan calls for creating a campus that relies less on cars and more on walking, with landscaped pathways and a new Campus Green. About 60 percent of the 200-acre Pleasantville campus will remain green space. Pace estimates that about 3,000 bus trips a year are now necessary to ferry students between the two campuses.
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Elder law firm expands
Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano L.L.P. doubled its White Plains office space with a 5,000-square-foot, 10-year lease in the Renaissance Corporate Center at 245 Main St.
Partners at the firm said the expansion reflects rising demand for elder-law services throughout Westchester County.
Friedland closes six deals
Passaic Healthcare Service L.L.C., a wholesale supplier of medical and hospital equipment, leased 6,500 square feet of office space at 41 Columbus Ave. in New Rochelle.
Ellen Benedek and Carl Silbergleit, executive directors at NAI Friedland Realty Inc. in Yonkers, represented the tenant in negotiations with landlord Simone Bantels Realty.
The New Rochelle lease was one of six deals for office, retail and industrial space in Westchester closed in February by Friedland Realty brokers.
In Peekskill, Nuway Fuel & Service Corp. leased1,872 square feet of office space at 2 John Walsh Boulevard. Silbergleit represented both the tenant and landlord Singer Properties.
In retail lease deals, the Academy of Jewish Studies leased 8,000 square feet of space at 1 Larkin Plaza in Yonkers.
The landlord, National Resources, of Greenwich, Conn., was represented by Robin Herko, Friedland Realty executive vice president, and retail specialist David Scotto.
Also in Yonkers, Herko and Scotto brokered a lease that brings Little Caesars Pizza to a 1,500-sqaure-foot space at 490 S. Broadway. The broker represented both the tenant and landlord Prana Investments.
In White Plains, ESPI L.L.C. paid $950,000 to acquire a 6,200-square-foot industrial property from Net-Fulton Realty L.L.C. Ross Schneiderman, senior executive vice president at Friedland Realty, brokered the deal for both parties.
In Mount Vernon, Valley Paper Products Inc. leased 10,000 square feet of industrial space at 10 Beach St. Jeff Clinton, an industrial specialist at Friedland, represented both the tenant and landlord T&A Beach Ave. Corp.
